How Can Cookies Be Managed to Protect User Privacy?

The keys to managing cookies are distinguishing their purposes, preserving user choice, and checking how data is stored and used. Users can start with their browser’s options for blocking cookies, setting site exceptions, and deleting cookies. Website operators should explain their purposes, obtain any consent required for tracking under applicable laws, and properly protect stored data. Browser settings and website-side data management both need attention.

First, distinguish the purposes: remembering a shopping cart is not the same as tracking for advertising

Cookies can help websites remember login status, shopping cart contents, and preferences. They can also be used for traffic analysis and ad targeting. Managing them therefore means asking not just whether to allow cookies, but also which function they serve.

• Logins and shopping carts: these cookies maintain website functionality so users can continue what they were doing.
• Preferences and content recommendations: these cookies tailor the browsing experience, and websites should explain what information they use.
• Cross-site advertising tracking: third-party cookies can track behavior across different websites, raising privacy considerations distinct from those involved in maintaining functionality.

For example, saving a shopping cart and using browsing history to target ads may both involve cookies, but they serve different purposes. Websites should explain that distinction rather than describe every use of data simply as “improving the experience.”

Browser management: review settings by website and need

Welly’s 2025 introduction to Chrome lists options for allowing or blocking cookies, setting site exceptions, automatically deleting cookies after closing the browser, and deleting cookies for a specific website. These offer areas to check, but the steps are not necessarily the same across all current versions.

• To adjust which cookies are accepted overall: check your browser’s settings for allowing and blocking cookies.
• To handle different websites differently: check whether site exception rules are available.
• To address only the cookies left by a particular website: look for site-specific deletion options.

These settings manage cookies in the browser. How a website stores and uses user data it already holds still needs to be reviewed separately; a single browser setting cannot replace comprehensive privacy management.

Website-side management: review existing data as well as explaining its purposes

For website operators, offering users a choice requires more than an explanation of cookies. Welly’s article recommends clearly explaining how cookies are used. In its 2026 guidance on updating older websites, Yoast also recommends reviewing data privacy settings, particularly for sites that track behavior with cookies or already store user data.

A practical review can cover three points: whether tracking has the consent required by applicable laws, whether data is stored securely, and whether its uses are lawful. For older user data, Yoast identifies deletion as a potentially safer option. This is maintenance advice, not a legal rule requiring every website to delete such data. Consent requirements still need to be assessed according to location and the actual context of use.